


Take A Step Back

by alicechugstea



Category: Original Work
Genre: Body Horror, F/F, Mystery, Supernatural Elements, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 15:31:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9498458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alicechugstea/pseuds/alicechugstea
Summary: Mika has spent the last few years living a carefully isolated life in the town of Barrick, playing the role of a ranger that patrols the vast forest behind her.It's a good, if quiet life, until something comes to visit and brings with it the memories of her past, and this time the consequences of running away is a little more severe than several angry voicemails from her mother.Running away this time means leaving her whole town, her whole forest, to be completely devoured.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Working title, first original fic. It was an idea I whipped up while sitting in the car and for some reason I couldn't shake it off. 
> 
> It has werewolves and lesbians and shit. 
> 
> I have no beta reader so all mistakes are my own. It's a work in progress so updates may be slow and a bit disorganized, but I'll try my best.

_ Her feet thundered through the forest, barely managing to stay upright over upturned roots of gnarled trees and broken rock. In the background she could hear it following her, the sound of the sickness, low and moaning and desperate in its search, a pestilence that yearned to creep inside of her. Stinging branches whipped across her face and her breath came out in wheezing white huffs, but she kept going.  _

_ All she could see in her mind’s eye was her father’s stricken face as the black ink seized his body. The veins in his bulging, white eyes grew black and she could not stop her shriek when it began to leak from his very pores.  _

_ “Michal…” he gurgled, drowning in the black, his very skin beginning to shrink, his teeth elongating under the shrivelling gums. The black oozed from his mouth, pouring unto the forest floor, killing all it touched.  _

_ She let out a fearful sob and ran, barely hearing the thud of her father’s body finally falling to the floor as the black ink steadily began to creep...  _

  
\--------

In a small grove under a large pie tree stood a modest cabin decorated with patchwork stone and sturdy thick timber. It lay in a thick bed of spindly yellow green grass, dotted by mounds of snow and creeping frost as it overlooked a well beaten gravel path and a rust red letterbox, standing at attention awkwardly to the side.

In most respects it was a typical scene of a typical cabin, with towering pine trees creaking above and casting their shadows to play with the watery light of the early dawn, but if one were to look just a little too closely, they would see a sea of white mist curl around the wooden steps. It was wisp like in its mass, sprouting thin sickly looking tendrils to spread across the ground  and crawl up the steps, almost like a spider delicately, slowly yet deliberately, approaching the edge of its web.

A soft yellow light flicked on and the misty fingers barely had time to dissipate when the front door opened. There stood a young woman, barely in her mid twenties with her black hair gathered into a messy bun and a half frown on her face. She adjusted the rifle across her shoulder and made a quick mental check that she had all her gear, listening to the soft crackle of her radio when she gave it a few clicks. 

Lately the woods had been…a bit strange. When she normally ventured into its dark bristles, the sound of her crisp footsteps and the trill of birds in the morning were a comfort. But now, the silvery sunlight seemed to have retreated and the leaves of the pine trees blanketed a deep darkness behind her cabin. Birds made scarcely a sound, and she didn’t spend more than a quick leisurely stroll. The woods had become almost oppressive, and if she paused too long to listen to the sounds of the woods, a slow, sinister throbbing seemed to pulse from all around.

The worst had been her last attempt of a forage, as sweet purple mulberries were common at that time of the year. Creeping along the edges of the path, carefully picking stinging nettle and keeping an eye out for the scattered mulberry trees, Mika had stumbled across a dead doe in a small clearing, just off the game trail path. Its neck was twisted, snapped at an almost impossible angle, with a jagged tear ripped from heart to stomach. The doe’s insides spilled out like rotten vegetable soup, and its eyes had been sunken in and crawling with tiny maggots. Mika reared back, instantly yanking the collar of her coat to stop the foul stench, her eyes stinging with tears. At first, Mika had thought it might have been attacked by some kind of animal, perhaps a wolf, but on closer inspection it seemed that all of its insides and flesh still remained. There were no teeth or claw marks to be seen. But then she turned her eyes to the what she thought was dry blood on the ground, and with a stick scratched up a sticky lump of black stringy slime, trailing from the doe’s body.

It seemed that there was no blood at all in or on the corpse. All the red had been replaced with a black substance, and the longer Mika stared, the more black she found. It dripped from the doe’s eyes, it spiderwebbed across its cracked rib cage. There was no hint of blood, dried or fresh anywhere in the clearing or on the deer.

Mika shuddered out of her memories, lest they brought back something she’d soon rather forget. In the back of her mind she heard a call for her name, but she shook her head again and gripped the leather of her rifle tight. There would be no reminiscing today. Although serene, the woods of Fitfar could be dangerous, and especially more so if she had her head in the clouds. 

Then her radio crackled to life and she quickly brought it to her ear. 

"Michal, can I get ya to come over to Red Rock, over." 

Finn's voice sounded strained, which was odd as he was usually the picture of calm and collected. In all the years that Mika has worked with him, the only time he had ever sounded distressed was when he realised he reusable coffee cup at home and had to use one of the cardboard cups. 

"Sure. I'll be there in 10 minutes, over." 

Mika hopped into the truck and took off down the gravel track towards Red Rock. 

\---------------

Red Rock was arguably the town's most famous camping site in the west of the reserve. It started off as a landscape of broken red rock and patches of dry yellowed grass before fading into a long sandy beach with large strips of dark water, perfect for fishing. 

When Mika hopped out of her truck, Finn had his hands on his hips, glaring  at the ground. 

"Finn?"

The man turned to face her, his boyish face smiling in familiarity. 

"Mika! Glad you're here." He gestured towards the ground. "Come take a look at this, will ya?" 

She crouched at the spot he pointed at and noticed a thick trail of dark slime leading into a small bush. Looking closer at the bush, she noticed that the black slime was spread like a chunky spiderweb across the bottom of the branches and a little over the ground. Trapped inside the middle of the net there was a rabbit's head. It's eyes were bulging and blood shoot. It had been strangled to death by the black slime. 

"What you make of that? Came across this this morning and I can tell ya right now, I've never seen something like that before." Finn frowned, his forehead going wrinkly. 

"Must be some kind of oil spill? Tar, or diesel maybe?" 

"What the heck would anyone be doing with diesel out here, and what kind of diesel does that?"

They both took a quick glance at the strangled rabbit. 

Mika shrugged. "Holiday season just ended. Who knows what sort of rubbish people leave behind." 

Finn sighed, rubbing a hand over his tired face. 

“Maybe you’re right. Still doesn’t explain the rabbit though.” 

Mika pulled a little plastic baggie out of the pocket of her jacket before taking a little stick and scraping some of the black goo off the ground. She deposited the stick into the bag and tucked it into her jacket. 

“Well, if it’ll give you a piece of mind, I’ll take it down to Robin. She’ll figure out what this is, if it’s diesel or something else.”

Finn’s smile returned. “Ah Robin, what a smart lady she is!” 

Mika snorted. “Well, I guess if that’s all-”

A sudden rustling sound caught their attention and both of them whipped around. The bush was shaking furiously and in a split second another rabbit bounded out, attempting to smash through the black film. It’s head managed to pop through but the rest of the slime caught into its fur.

Mika immediately threw herself forward, hands outreached but Finn snagged her around the waist, both of them crashing forward.

“Holy-”

Both of them watched in horror as the slime started to travel across the rabbit, quickly wrapping around the neck, one, two, three times and pulling tight. The rabbit kicked frantically, its head thrashing before its eyes bulged out and its neck snapped. The head flops forward, limb like a detached human limb, and the black slime stilled. 

Mika and Finn slowly crawled back to their feet, Finn clutching Mika in white knuckled fear. 

“Okay…” Mika said slowly, unable to tear her eyes away from what they had just witnessed.   
  
“I think I’m going to pay Robin a visit.” 


End file.
